Electricity Kachin Lead Story News
Activists and members of the public in Myitkyina staged a protest on Tuesday against hydroelectric dam proposals as a workshop was being held in the Kachin State capital to discuss issues surrounding these often contentious developments.
Contributor Environment Karen Lead Story Natural resources News
Karen pastors and community leaders expressed their concerns – but by the end of the meeting they were satisfied to go ahead with a pre-feasibility study. The “no dams” signs were later taken down.
Austria has pledged to provide Burma with technical support on hydropower generation, said Vienna’s visiting Transport, Innovation and Technology Minister Doris Bures upon signing MoUs with Burma’s Naypyidaw’s Electric Power[…]
India looks to expand economic presence in its eastern neighbour with plans underway to construct two major hydropower dams
June 25, 2009 (DVB), Six villages located near the proposed site of a hydropower plant in Burma's western Arakan state have been displaced by Burmese military, with added concerns that[…]
A Burmese court finds 33 farmers living next to a Special Economic Zone guilty of criminal trespass, a ruling seen by activists as a blow to land rights in a country with a rising demand for property for industrial use.
Analysis Ethnic issues Lead Story Peace Process
Insofar as the Union government’s agenda for ethnic reconciliation is concerned, there is little doubt that the north, where the most powerful rebel armies operate, holds the key to a permanent negotiated settlement.
Campaigners demanding the return of land to villagers in northern Burma said their fight would go on, days after an activist was beaten to death by a mob while visiting the disputed territory on the invitation of local officials.
Activists want a thorough investigation into the killing of a land rights activist in Burma, and greater protection of land defenders, amid a sharp increase in territorial disputes.
International Relations Kachin Lead Story News
China says it will continue to talk to Burma about the controversial, stalled Myitsone dam project, after Burma’s new energy minister cast doubt over the scheme.
Kachin Lead Story Natural resources News
The Ngaw Chan Kha is a tributary of the Mali Kha, one of two rivers that form the source of the Irrawaddy, Burma’s most important waterway
International Relations Lead Story News
Energy-hungry Burma is in initial talks to buy electricity from China, according to officials and documents reviewed by Reuters, in the latest sign of warming ties with Beijing under leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Electricity Energy Lead Story Natural resources News
Coal would be one of the quickest ways to ramp up power generation, but the option is unpopular in Burma.
Environment Lead Story Natural resources News
A second report covering the Myitsone dam project on the Irrawaddy River will soon be submitted to the Burmese president for his consideration.
Electricity Lead Story News Rangoon
Burma is currently implementing a 15-year World Bank plan to bring electricity to more than seven million households by 2030.
International Relations Lead Story News
China has shifted its position in a lengthy dispute with Burma over the building of the $3.6 billion dam, signalling its willingness to abandon the project in exchange for other economic and strategic opportunities in Burma.
Australian investors keen to access Burma’s mining industry and replicate lessons learned from the island nation’s mining boom years raise questions about taxation, policy constraints and bureaucracy at a panel discussion in Rangoon.
Electricity Feature Lead Story News
Generators are expensive. Pact says one hour of diesel power in rural Burma costs roughly the same as 24 hours of power in Rangoon.
Analysis Contributor Ethnic issues Lead Story
Ethnic communities across Burma are raising their voices to strongly oppose plans by the Burma government and the global hydropower industry to build large dams that threaten to destroy their lives and livelihoods.
Analysis Contributor Lead Story Opinion
Perspectives on Burma’s waterways have been polarised into two competing positions: focusing on developing its vast hydropower potential and advocating for local communities’ needs and concerns.
Analysis Contributor Lead Story
The ongoing Strategic Environmental Assessment of the hydropower sector in Myanmar does not determine the fate of planned or future hydropower projects and rather is a tool for decision-makers to be better informed of countrywide environmental and social risks.
Electricity Energy Environment Lead Story Natural resources News
A coalition of 422 civil society and environmental groups are calling on the government to halt all proposed coal and large-scale hydropower projects, citing a raft of negative impacts on vulnerable local communities.
Burmese military media have reported that Kokang rebels abducted five workers from a hydropower plant in Laogai.
Conflict Environment Lead Story News
Karen Rivers Watch says recent fighting for control of a road to the site of the controversial Hatgyi hydropower dam is putting a dangerous strain on the ceasefire in Karen State.
Development Electricity Energy Environment Lead Story News
Joern Kristensen, the director of the Myanmar Institute for Integrated Development, speaks to DVB about Burma’s options for meeting its energy needs.
Electricity Energy Environment Lead Story News
Opposition to Chinese-invested hydropower schemes in Burma is being orchestrated by “extreme” groups, according to an influential Chinese newspaper.
Electricity Environment Lead Story News
Burma looks to hike the planned share of hydropower in its energy mix at the cost of polluting coal as it tries to attract foreign investment.
Environment Ethnic issues Lead Story News
Activists say an environmental and social impact assessment for the proposed Naung Pha dam is being carried out without a public announcement to avoid protests that have plagued other dam projects.
Conflict Environment Lead Story News
Shan community groups are calling for the suspension of a Chinese-backed dam on the Salween River that they say risks exacerbating conflict and environmental problems.
Foreign Affairs International Relations Lead Story News
Burma’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi told her Chinese hosts on Thursday that her government would try to find a way to resolve the Myitsone dam issue that satisfies both countries.
